The present invention relates to a slot machine capable of visually suggesting that a game now being played will result in a hit.
A slot machine has a plurality, e.g. three to five, of reels with a plurality of symbols in a series on each outer periphery thereof. These reels start rotating when a game starts. After the rotation of each reel reaches a constant speed, a stop control can be executed. This stop control for each reel rotating at a constant speed is effected upon actuation of a stop button in the case of a slot machine of the manual stop type, or by the operation of an automatic stop device in the case of a slot machine of the automatic stop type. When all the reels have stopped, the presence or absence of a hit is determined according to the combination of symbols on the respective reels stopping on at least one winning line. The number of winning lines is determined by the number of inserted coins. Coins corresponding in number to the rank of the hit are paid out.
As used herein, the term "coins" includes tokens.
In a conventional slot machine, at a certain time during the period between inserting the coins and starting the reel stop control, a judgment is made by using random numbers whether or not the game is to have a hit; and if a hit is to occur, its rank also is determined. In accordance with this judgment, the reel stop control is effected. In a slot machine of the manual stop type, even a game which otherwise would be a hit may result in a lost game because the reel stop positions are restricted. In this case, the hit is carried over to the next game.
Players naturally want a big hit with many coins paid out or a bonus game having a high hit probability. But such special hits cause many coins to be paid out. In order to maintain a stable payout rate, the probability of occurrence of special hits is controlled by using random numbers as described before, to inhibit concentrated occurrences of special hits. With a limited or low probability of occurrence of special hits, players tend to have the impression that a special hit may suddenly occur after a number of repeated games. Most of the games therefore arouse the player's interest only after the reels stop, with an uninteresting wait during the period from the start of rotation of the reels to their stopping. This is one of the major reasons that known games are monotonous and dull. The same problem is also associated with a slot machine of the type wherein symbols are displayed on a CRT instead of reels.